Phase control circuit and oscillator circuit using it

ABSTRACT

A phase control circuit includes a controlled voltage source circuit and a controlled current source circuit receiving a reference frequency signal, a first impedor connected between the controlled voltage source circuit and an output terminal of the phase control circuit, a second impedor connected between a DC power source and the output terminal, and an output control circuit connected between the output terminal and the controlled current source circuit. The oscillator circuit comprises a crystal oscillator, a circuit for amplifying the output of the oscillator and a circuit arrangement almost similar to the phase control circuit in which the reference frequency signal is supplied from the crystal oscillator. The phase control circuit and the oscillator circuit are suited for an integrated circuit construction.

This invention relates to a phase control circuit and an oscillator circuit using it.

Known phase control circuits are proposed in a plurality of types, such as, an AC type which includes a resistor and a capacitor as its major parts, and a DC type which includes a plurality of differential operation transistor pairs. However, as will be described later, both these types of known phase control circuits have not been fully satisfactory in that the former tends to be easily adversely affected by noise, and the latter requires an increased number of external lead terminals when fabricated into a semiconductor integrated circuit construction although it is hardly adversely affected by noise.

With a view to solve the above problems involved in the known ones, it is an object of the present invention to provide a phase control circuit and an oscillator circuit using it, which require a reduced number of external lead terminals when fabricated into a monolithic semiconductor integrated circuit construction.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an oscillator circuit which requires a reduced number of external parts.

In order that the present invention may be readily carried into effect, it will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the structure of prior art phase control circuits;

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the phase control circuit embodying one preferred basic form of the present invention;

FIGS. 4, 5a and 5b are equivalent circuit diagrams useful for the understanding of the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 3;

FIGS. 6 to 8 are vector diagrams useful similarly for the understanding of the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram showing the detailed structure of an embodiment of the phase control circuit according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the oscillator circuit according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a vector diagram useful for the understanding of the operation of the phase control circuit shown in FIG. 9; and

FIG. 12 shows the relation between the phase difference and the oscillation frequency of a crystal oscillator useful for the understanding of the operation of the oscillator circuit shown in FIG. 10.

For a better understanding of the present invention, prior art phase control circuits will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 before describing the present invention in detail.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a prior art phase control circuit of AC type which includes a resistor R₃ and a capacitor C₃. In this prior art phase control circuit, the resistance of the resistor R₃ or the capacitance of the capcitor C₃ is made variable for adjusting the output phase relative to the input phase. (In the illustrated structure, the capacitance of the capacitor C₃ is variable.) However, the variable capacitor C₃ or variable resistor R₃ must be disposed so as to be manipulated on a control panel of a receiver, and a relatively elongated signal conduction line is required for the electrical connection. The prior art phase control circuit of AC type shown in FIG. 1 is therefore defective in that it tends to be easily adversely affected by noise.

A phase control circuit of DC type is also known and has a structure as shown in FIG. 2. In this prior art phase control circuit of DC type, two signals having different phases, i.e., +45° and -45° are respectively applied to the bases of transistors Q₅ and Q₆ constituting a differential operation transistor pair, and the collector outputs of these transistors Q₅ and Q₆ are added in terms of vectors by a gain control circuit constituted by differential operation transistor pairs Q₇, Q₈ and Q₉, Q₁₀ for controlling the output phase. In FIG. 2, R₄ is an output resistor. V_(B) and V_(C) represent a constant bias voltage and a phase control voltage, respectively. The phase control circuit shown in FIG. 2 is advantageous in that it is hardly adversely affected by noise due to the fact that the line for conducting a phase controlling input voltage V_(C) is isolated from the line for conducting a phase controlled output signal OUT to the output terminal.

However, when this prior art phase control circuit is to be fabricated into a monolithic semiconductor integrated circuit consturction, at least four external lead terminals are required which include a pair of external lead terminals P₆ and P₇ for applying the two signals having the different phases of +45° and -45°, another external lead terminal P₈ for applying the phase controlling input voltage V_(c), and another external lead terminal P₉ for delivering the phase controlled output signal OUT.

In a color television receiver, a known 3.58 MHz chrominance subcarrier oscillator circuit is provided for producing the chrominance subcarrier signal in synchronism with the color burst signal contained in a received chroma signal. In this oscillator circuit, its own oscillation frequency is compared with the color burst signal with respect to phase so as to modify the phase of its oscillation output. This known oscillator circuit is of the voltage controlled type, and the aforementioned phase control circuit is used for converting the control voltage applied to the oscillator circuit into a phase control signal. This known oscillator circuit is also defective in that the number of external parts is increased in addition to the similar increase in the number of external lead terminals when it is to be fabricated into a monolithic semiconductor integrated circuit construction.

A preferred basic embodiment of the phase control circuit according to the present invention which obviates the prior art defects will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, a reference frequency signal IN₁ is applied to an emitter follower circuit 1 composed of, for example, a transistor Q₁ and a resistor R₁. This emitter follower circuit 1 has a low output impedance and is equivalent to a voltage signal source or a controlled voltage source circuit. The reference frequency signal IN₁ is also applied to a common-emitter amplifier circuit 2 composed of, for example, a transistor Q₂ and a resistor R₂. This common-emitter amplifier circuit 2 has a high output impedance and is equivalent to a current signal source or controlled currend source circuit. An output control circuit 3 is connected with the collector of transistor Q₂ in this common-emitter amplifier circuit 2 and includes transistors Q₃ and Q₄ constituting a differential operation transistor pair for dividing the signal appearing at the collector of transistor Q₂ and supplying one of the divided signal portions to an output lead terminal P₂ of the phase control circuit thereby controlling the output OUT₁. A constant bias voltage V_(B) and a phase control voltage are applied to the base of the transistor Q₃ and to the base of the transistor Q₄, respectively. An impedor 4 (having an impedance Z₁) is connected between an output terminal P₁ of the emitter follower circuit 1 and the output lead terminal P₂ of the phase control circuit, and another impedor 5 (having an impedance Z₂) is connected between a power supply terminal P₄ (grounded AC-wise) and the output lead terminal P₂, so as to provide a circuit which carries out, in terms of vectors, addition of the output of the controlled current source circuit 2 and the output of the controlled voltage source circuit 1. These impedances Z₁ and Z₂ consist of mutually different components. For example, when the impedance Z₁ (or Z₂) includes a resistive component, the impedance Z₂ (or Z₁) should include an inductive or a capacitive component while when the impedance Z₁ (or Z₂) includes a capacitive component, the impedance Z₂ (or Z₁) should have an inductive component.

In the phase control circuit of the present invention having the structure above described, a control voltage V_(c) applied to the output control circuit 3 through an external lead terminal P₃ is varied relative to the reference frequency signal IN₁ applied in common to the bases of transistors Q₁ and Q₂, so that an output signal OUT₁ whose phase is varied depending on the variation in the control voltage V_(c) appears at the output lead terminal P₂.

FIG. 4 shows an equivalent circuit of the phase control circuit shown in FIG. 3 when looked from the controlled voltage source circuit 1. It will be seen in FIG. 4 that the impedances 4 and 5 are conencted in series with the controlled voltage source circuit 1 due to the high output impedance of the controlled current source circuit 2. FIG. 5a shows an equivalent circuit of the phase control circuit when looked from the controlled current source circuit 2. It will be seen in FIG. 5a that the impedances 4 and 5 are connected in parallel with the controlled current source circuit 2 due to the low output impedance of the controlled voltage source circuit 1. The equivalent circuit of FIG. 5a may be source-transformed into an equivalent circuit in a voltage source representation as shown in FIG. 5b. It will be understood that the output signal of the phase control circuit can be computed by computing the output V₂ of the equivalent circuit of FIG. 4 and the output V₂ ' of the equivalent circuit of FIG. 5b, and then synthesizing these outputs V₂ and V₂ ' in terms of vectors according to the superposition theorem.

Suppose now that the impedance Z₁ consists of a series circuit of a resistance R_(a) and a capacitance C, and the impedance Z₂ consists of a resistance R_(b). Then, the aforementioned output V₂ in FIG. 4 is computed in a manner as described below.

    V.sub.1 = I(R.sub.a + R.sub.b - j 1/ωc)              (1)

    V.sub.2 = IR.sub.b                                         (2)

From the equation (1), I is given by ##EQU1##

The value of I given by the equation (3) is introduced into the equation (2) to seek the value of V₂ follows: ##EQU2## It is seen from the equations (4) and (5) that the phase of the output V₂ leads that of V₁ by θ.

On the other hand, the output V₂ ' in FIG. 5b is computed in a manner as described below.

    V.sub.1 ' = I' (R.sub.a + R.sub.b - j 1/ωc)          (6)

    V.sub.2 ' = I' (R.sub.a - j 1/ωc)                    (7)

From the equation (6), I' is given by ##EQU3## The value of I' given by the equation (8) is introduced into the equation (7) to seek the value of V₂ ' as follows: ##EQU4## It is seen from the equations (9) and (10) that the phase of the output V₂ ' lags behind that of V₁ ' by θ'.

FIG. 6 is a vector representation of the relation among V₁, V₁ ', V₂, V₂ ' and OUT₁. In FIG. 6, the phase of V₁ ' is opposite to that of V₁, because the output V₁ ' of the common-emitter amplifier circuit providing the controlled current source circuit 2 has the phase opposite to that of the input, and the output V₁ of the emitter follower circuit providing the controlled voltage source circuit 1 has the same phase as that of the input.

According to the aforementioned superposition theorem, the output OUT₁ is given by the result of addition of the signals V₂ and V₂ ' in terms of vectors as seen in FIG. 6. The level of the output V₁ ' of the controlled current source circuit 2 can be varied by the output control circuit 3, and the resultant signal V₂ ' can be varied accordingly. Depending on this variation in the resultant signal V₂ ', the phase of the output OUT₁ can be varied as shown by Δθ in FIG. 6, thereby achieving the desired phase control.

FIG. 7 is a vector diagram representing the case in which the capacitance C in the aforementioned impedance Z₁ is replaced by an inductance L. It will be seen in FIG. 7 that the phase of the signal V₂ lags behind V₁ by θ, and that of the signal V₂ ' leads V₁ ' by θ', with the result that the phase of the output OUT₁ varies in a manner as shown by Δθ with the decrease in the level of the signal V₂ ', that is, such phase varies with a sense opposite to that shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a vector diagram representing the case in which the phase of the output V₁ of the controlled voltage source circuit 1 is the same as that of the output V₁ ' of the controlled current source circuit 2, and the impedances Z₁ and Z₂ remain the same as those described with reference to FIG. 6. In this case too, the phase of the output OUT₁ can be advanced with the decrease in the level of the output V₁ ' of the controlled current source circuit 2 as in the case of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram showing the practical structure of an embodiment of the phase control circuit according to the present invention when applied to a hue control circuit in a color television receiver.

In FIG. 9, the portions surrounded by the two-dot chain lines 9 are fabricated into a monolithic semiconductor integrated circuit construction and are connected with external circuits and a power source through external lead terminals P₁ to P₅.

The blocks 11 to 18 enclosed by the broken lines are principal parts of the hue control circuit, and the blocks 11 to 15 among them correspond respectively to the blocks 1 to 5 in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 9, the block 17 represents a bias circuit which includes resistors R₁₄, R₁₅ and diodes (or transistors in diode connection) Q₁₈, Q₁₉ connected in series, another transistor Q₁₇ connected at its base with the connection point of the resistors R₁₄ and R₁₅ and at its collector with the other end of the resistor R₁₄ and with the external lead terminal P₄ supplying a power supply voltage V_(cc), and another resistor R₁₆ connected between the emitter of transistor Q₁₇ and the external lead terminal P₅ which is grounded. This bias circuit 17 provides a bias voltage for biasing differential operation transistors Q₁₃ and Q₁₄ constituting an output control circuit represented by the block 13, and it also produces a constant voltage for driving a constant-current transistor Q₁₅ in an emitter follower circuit represented by the block 11. The bias voltage for biasing the differential operation transistors Q₁₃ and Q₁₄ is applied through an emitter follower circuit provided by the transistor Q.sub. 17 and resistor R₁₆.

The emitter follower circuit 11 functions as a cotrolled voltage source circuit and includes a transistor Q₁₁ which is connected at its emitter with a load including the constant-current transistor Q₁₅ and an emitter resistor R₁₁ for the transistor Q₁₅ for driving the transistor Q₁₅ by a constant voltage as described hereinbefore. A 3.58 MHz oscillation signal is applied to the base of the transistor Q₁₁ through an amplifying circuit 18 described later, and the emitter output of transistor Q₁₁ appears at the external lead terminal P₁ through a resistor R₁₇. The constant-current circuit consisting of the transistor Q₁₅ and resistor R₁₁ is used as the emitter load of the transistor Q₁₁ in the emitter follower circuit 11 in order to prevent the 3.58 MHz oscillation signal from flowing into the grounded line.

The block 12 represents a common-emitter amplifier circuit which functions as a controlled current source circuit and includes an amplifying transistor Q₁₂ and emitter resistors R₁₂ and R₁₃ therefor. A transistor Q₁₆ is connected at its emitter with the connection point of the emitter resistors R₁₂ and R₁₃ for the transistor Q₁₂ and is biased by the constant voltage applied from the bias circuit 17. Thus, this transistor Q₁₆ makes differential operation with the transistor Q₁₂ so that the 3.58 MHz oscillation signal applied to the base of amplifying transistor Q₁₂ may not flow into the grounded line. The signal appearing at the collector of transistor Q₁₂ is applied to the external lead terminal P₂ through the differential operation transistor circuit functioning as the output control circuit 13. One of the differential operation transistors Q₁₃ and Q₁₄, for example, the transistor Q₁₄ is connected at its base with the external lead terminal P₃, and a voltage signal produced by a control section 16 including a variable resistor R₂₂ is applied to this external lead terminal P₃. Depending on the relative voltage difference between this voltage signal and the bias voltage supplied from the bias circuit 17 through resistors R₁₈ and R₁₉, the conductance of the differential operation transistors Q₁₃ and Q₁₄ is varied to control the level of the output of the controlled current source circuit 12.

The block 18 represents an amplifying circuit which supplies the 3.58 MHz oscillation signal to the respective transistors Q₁₁ and Q₁₂ in the emitter follower circuit 11 and common-emitter amplifier circuit 12. This amplifying circuit 18 comprises an amplifying transistor Q₂₀ and its emitter load including diodes (or transistors in diode connection) Q₂₁ to Q₂₃, a transistor Q₂₄ and an emitter resistor R₂₀ connected in series. The connection point of the diode Q₂₃ and the collector of transistor Q₂₄ is connected with the bases of transistors Q₁₁ and Q₁₂. The diodes Q₂₁ to Q₂₃ act to shift the output level. The transistor Q₂₄ having the emitter resistor R₂₀ connected therewith is biased by the constant bias voltage applied from the bias circuit 17. The constant-current circuit is used as the emitter load of the transistor Q₂₀ so as to similarly prevent the 3.58 MHz oscillation signal from flowing into the grounded line.

The blocks 14 and 15 represent impedors. In the present embodiment, the impedor 14 consists of a capacitor C₁₁ connected between the external lead terminals P₁ and P₂, and the impedor 15 consists of a resistor R₂₁ and an inductor L₁₀ connected in series between the power supply terminal P₄ and the output lead terminal P₂ and a capacitor C₁₂ connected between ground and the connection point of the resistor R₂₁ and inductor L₁₀, so that the phase of the output voltage, transferred from the controlled voltage source circuit 11, appearing at the output lead terminal P₂ leads that of the output voltage of the controlled voltage source circuit 11 by 45°, and the phase of the output voltage, transferred from the controlled current source circuit 12, appearing at the output lead terminal P₂ is the same as that of the output current of the controlled current source circuit 12.

FIG. 11 is a vector diagram useful for the understanding of the operation of the phase control circuit shown in FIG. 9. In order that the phase of the output OUT₂ lags by 45° when the gain of the common-emitter amplifier circuit is maximum as seen in FIG. 11, the elements R₁₇, R₂₁, C₁₁, C₁₂ and L₁₀ above described may have the following values:

    ______________________________________                                         R.sub.17 = 1.5 kΩ                                                                            R.sub.21 = 180 Ω                                     R.sub.11 = 33 pF    C.sub.12 = 0.015 μF                                     E.sub.10 = 68 μF                                                            ______________________________________                                    

It should be noted here that the capacitor C₁₂ serves to ground one end of the inductor L₁₀ AC-wise and forms a decoupling circuit along with the resistor R₂₁ with respect to the 3.58 MHz signal while the capacitor C₁₁ and the inductor L₁₀ form a resonant circuit having a resonant frequency equal to 3.58 MHz, i.e., the frequency of the input signal to the transistor Q₂₀, in order to make the phase of the output voltage of the controlled current source circuit 12 identical with that of the output current flowing to the output terminal P₂ from the controlled current source circuit 12. As a result, the voltages V₂ and V₂ ' are produced, the former 45° phase-leading the 3.58 MHz signal applied to the base of the transistor Q₂₀, the latter being in opposite phase to the said 3.58 MHz signal, as shown in FIG. 11. Thus, it is possible to produce the output signal OUT₂ having a phase lagging behind V₂ ' when the gain of the amplifier circuit 12 is maximum, as described above. This circuit construction is advantageous in that the range of phase control can be considerably wide when the output OUT₂ is required to have a maximum phase leading by 90° with respect to that of the 3.58 MHz signal applied to the base of the transistor Q₂₀.

Although not show in FIG. 9, a capacitor of 0.01 μF and a resistor of 3 kΩ are connected in series between the output lead terminal P₂ and the ground.

It will be seen in FIG. 11 that the output V₂ of the emitter follower circuit 11 leads by 45°, and the output V₂ ' of the common-emitter amplifier circuit 12 has a level which is √2 times that of the output V₂. The above output V₂ ' is varied within the range of V₂ ' to 0 by the output control circuit 13 so as to control the phase of the output OUT₂ of the phase control circuit within the range of 90° (that is, the range of ±45° on opposite sides of the hue control neutral).

The phase control circuit embodying the present invention is advantageous over the piror art equivalent of DC type in that the number of external lead terminals can be reduced to three. The present invention is also advantageous in that the circuit has a very simple construction since the two signals shown in FIG. 2 are utterly unnecessary.

It will be understood from the foregoing detailed description that the phase control circuit according to the present invention provides an output whose phase varies depending on a control voltage signal input. This fact can be utilized to provide a voltage controlled oscillator circuit. As is commonly known, there is the relation shown in FIG. 12 between the phase difference and the oscillation frequency of a crystal oscillator. The graph shown in FIG. 12 teaches the fact that the oscillation frequency varies depending on the phase difference between signals applied to the electrodes of the crystal oscillator. The crystal oscillator oscillates with its natural frequency f_(o) in the absence of any phase difference, and the oscillation frequency shifts to f_(osc) when, for example, the phase difference is +45°.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an oscillator circuit which comprises the phase control circuit of the present invention including the cotnrolled voltage source circuit 11, controlled current source circuit 12, output control circuit 13, impedors 14; 15, and amplifying circuit 18 shown in FIG. 9. Referring to FIG. 10, a crystal oscillator 10 is connected between an input terminal of the amplifying circuit 18 and the output lead terminal (P₂) connected to the connection point of the impedors 14 and 15 so as to oscillate at an oscillation frequency which varies depending on the variation ΔV of the control voltage applied to the output control circuit 13. The above arrangement provides thus a voltage controlled oscillator circuit. A phase locked loop (PLL circuit) can be obtained when this control voltage is provided by a phase detector whose output is proportional to the phase difference between the oscillation frequency and the reference frequency.

In a practical structure of this oscillator circuit, the crystal oscillator is connected between the output lead terminal P₂ and an additional input terminal of the amplifying circuit 18 in FIG. 9. This oscillator circuit is quite simple in construction since a crystal oscillator is merely added to the phase control circuit of simple consrruction having a reduced number of external lead terminals.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described by way of example, it is apparent that the present invention is in no way limited to the specific emobidments, and various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of appeanded claims. 

We claim:
 1. A phase control circuit comprising a controlled voltage source circuit and a controlled current source circuit, an input signal at a reference frequency to the phase control circuit being applicable in common to said source circuits, first and second impedors, one end of said first impedor being connected with one end of said second impedor, and an output control circuit interconnected between said controlled current source circuit and the connected ends of said first and second impedors and arranged to receive a control signal for controlling the phase of the output of the phase control circuit in response to said control signal, the other end of said first impedor being connected with said controlled voltage source circuit and the other end of said second impedor being AC-wise grounded.
 2. A phase control circuit according to claim 1, in which said controlled voltage source circuit includes an emitter follower transistor amplifying circuit and said controlled current source circuit includes a common-emitter transistor amplifying circuit.
 3. A phase control circuit according to claim 2, in which said output control circuit includes a differential circuit having two input terminals supplied with a reference signal and said control signal, respectively.
 4. A phase control circuit according to claim 2, in which said first impedor includes a reactance and said second impedor consists of a resistance.
 5. A phase control circuit according to claim 2, in which said first impedor consists of a resistance and said second impedor includes a reactance.
 6. A phase control circuit according to claim 1, in which said first and second impedors constitute a resonant circuit having a resonant frequency identical with said reference frequency. 